


Want

by MaiaEmerald



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Magical Realism
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-01
Updated: 2019-09-01
Packaged: 2020-10-04 19:50:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20476571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaiaEmerald/pseuds/MaiaEmerald
Summary: Everyone wants something; to be thinner, smarter, taller. But why do people want? Is it for survival or just plain vanity?





	Want

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: All rights to the show Sherlock are the property of BBC. The author claims no rights nor gains profit from works published.

Harry knew everything. That’s why John asked her first.

“According to Mebster, ‘Want is to feel a need or desire for; wish for.’” Harry answered setting the dictionary down with a thump on the table.

John nodded slowly, it made sense. But what he didn’t understand was why no one had told him what it was before. He only heard it in hushed tones from grown-ups when he was passing by.

“I suppose that doesn’t make sense to you since you’re only four. I’m eight, so I know lots about this. We learned all about it school too,” Harry continued smugly. 

“I can even show you a Want.”

John perked up, he had never been shown a Want and didn’t think it was something that could be well, shown. He nodded at Harry entranced at what she going to do next.

Harry grabbed his arm pulling him closer. She eagerly placed one of his hands in between her own. 

Quietly, she whispered, “I Want to sparkle.”

A warm feeling spread through his palm and he giggled at the sensation. It was strange. If this was Want, why wasn’t he told? 

The sound of a shattered plate echoed behind John causing him to jump and lose his grip on her hands. With a shriek, he was thrown away from Harry who began crying at the sudden uproar.

“Never ever do that again! Do you understand?”

“But, but...mum...I was just showing him-”

Her words were cut short as she was taken out of the room forcibly, her cries resounding through the house as she went.

The next time John experienced Want, he was six and playing in the schoolyard with some of his mates. Like most kids, they were running and shouting as if there was no one around them. John wavered in and out following as best he could, being on the short side of meant he had to go twice as fast just to keep up. 

“Incoming!”

John dove to the ground, narrowly avoiding the attack. 

“I’ll get you one day Johnny boy!” his friend shouted, laughing gleefully as his feet clanked up the jungle gym.

John and his accomplice proceeded to circle around the jungle gym, ready to ambush their comrade at any second. Slowly and as quietly as they could, they climbed up and right as they were finally behind him, they heard a resounding bellow.

“Free period is over!”

The boys moaned. Their plan had been foiled by an opportunistic enemy. As such, the children begrudgingly began climbing down. Except for James.

“Come on! If we don’t get back in time Ms. Haddington is going to make us write again,” they called out to him.

“Well, I don’t want to. I want to stay here.”

John could feel the withheld groans from his friends, James never wanted to go in, and when he didn’t, everyone got in trouble.

“We can play later!”

“NO! I want to stay here! I don’t want to go and hear some boring lectures about dead people!” James shouted.

A small crowd of children had gathered near - James protests gathering their attention as they were making their way in.

“I Want to see everything! I Want to fly!” James shouted stomping his feet on the jungle bars.

Now it is important to remember that while standing and climbing on the jungle gym was permitted; it was never, ever, ever acceptable to stomp or jump. For as James shouted that last sentence, he slipped on the bars and proceeded to fall much to the horror of all watching.

However, instead of falling with a resounding thump, silence befell the schoolyard. James had instead paused, floating midfall next jungle gym. His face was struck with a mixture of both fear and awe which were reflected in the kids around him except for one.

John asked with his voice quivering with worry, “What happened?”

Want (verb): to be deficient by the absence of some part or thing, or to feel or have a need.


End file.
